Faith and Human Development Interview
Faith & Human Development
Child Interview
Subject: Kitty Witty
Age: 6 turning 7 in two months at the point of the interview
Background: Kitty Witty lives with her mother, father and brother who is approximately two years younger than her. Economically the family would classify themselves as lower middle-class African Americans and lives in a predominately urban and African American subdivision. Her father is a police officer and her mom is a stay at home parent who blogs for part time income. Kitty Witty is first generation African American on her mother’s side and third generation African on her father’s side of the family. Kitty Witty attends a language immersion school where she is dually educated in Spanish and English. While Kitty Whitty’s mother believes in God personally, they do not attend church as a family and recently began attending a Presbyterian Wednesday Kids Club and dinner fellowship where the children are gain information regarding Christian education. Kitty Whitty says she loves Wednesday church.
!!!I have included some of the conversation from the explanation of the picture in the three theories discussion.
Links to Interviews
Cognitive Development – Jean Piaget
Up until Jean Piaget theory of Cognitive Development children were classified as mini adults regarding thought and their ability to process information. Piaget’s work was distinctive in that attempted to prove that a child’s development “regardless of their society and their historical period, go through a series of stages in the evolution of intelligence that is always the same” .
Piaget’s theory comprises of four stages; Sensorimotor (birth-2 years); Preoperational (2-7 years); Concrete Operations (7-11 years) and Formal Operations which is 11 years and beyond. Piaget theory is noted as being stages that are sequential in their development and cumulative in process begins to mature as the child grows through the stages.
Observation
Kitty Whitty begin 6 years old appears to be is the Preoperational state of Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental theory.
This is exemplified by her use of symbolic functioning describing God as an angel (video 1, 1:06). Trying to make meaning of something (God) that she doesn’t fully understand by relating it to something she is more familiar with.
Kitty Whitty can repeat / recall multiple pieces information related to a subject but not understand or can communicate the relationship. This is exemplified by her understanding that those who are dead are with God however the dead are in the coffin, but God is not in the coffin (video 2, 8:48-9:39). This is related to Piaget’s note on Preoperational Stage in the text book which speaks to the ability to understand the sequencing of the frames but not how the frames fit together in the movie .
She twice confirms her statements by referring to the authorities in her life about God as Mrs. Mc, her choir teacher, at the Wednesday night church program she attends (video 2, 3:44) and her book (which she showed me after the interview) to prove that Jesus and God are the same person and that they are boys (video 2, 5:58) which may point to the fact that her responses are the right answer as learned information.
As Kitty Whitty is in the first grade and possibly transitioning from Preoperational into Concrete operations, I believe we see an attempt to acknowledge that God and Jesus are the same at (Video 2, 1:30 – 1:43) and additionally her discourse on video 2, 1:42.
God Representatives - Ana Maria Rizzuto
Ana Maria Rizzuto psychological analytical theory of God Representatives is an attempt to shed light on how everyone in infancy create and process images, feelings and attitudes concerning God. Her process were via questionnaire about family and God, pictures drawn of the same and a recorded detailed recorded life history of the individual. This analysis process is meant to find a cross section where there a parallels in family relations that coincide with the individual’s expressions toward God.
Observation
Kitty Whitty shows insight to her multi layering of her understanding of God. Her statement God is the boss (Video 1, 1:39), (Video 2, :1-1:42) and the emphasis she put on it. She seems to emote an attitude about God thinking he can tell everyone what to do and think. She seems to have a bit of a problem with that and one can only suppose that possibly that is a reaction from something in her personal life which may be influencing how she perceives God.
In that same spans of conversation, I believe we see her trying to identify God as Sovereign because of his “boss” persona. As similarly in her explanation of God being omnipresent and omnipotent in video 1, 1:07-1:10.
Because none of the conversation introduced her family into the conversation was not possible to identify any real parallels.
Multiple Intelligences – Howard Gardner
Howard Gardner after working with his mentor Erik Erikson and being inspired by the work of Jean Piaget via Jerome Burner, determined that there was room for further investigation and expansion in the world of cognitive development. Through his experiments he found mounting evidence that people had capacities in other areas of cognition that rivaled the sciences by which intelligence had been measured.
Gardner findings became known as Multiple Intelligences. His theory bought attention to another eight additional intelligences:
1. Linguistic Intelligence - People who are strong in linguistic-verbal intelligence are able to use words well, both when writing and speaking. These individuals are typically very good at writing stories, memorizing information, and reading.
2. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence - People who are strong in logical-mathematical intelligence are good at reasoning, recognizing patterns, and logically analyzing problems. These individuals tend to think conceptually about numbers, relationships, and patterns.
3. Musical Intelligence - People who have strong musical intelligence are good at thinking in patterns, rhythms, and sounds. They have a strong appreciation for music and are often good at musical composition and performance.
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence - Those who have high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence are said to be good at body movement, performing actions, and physical control. People who are strong in this area tend to have excellent hand-eye coordination and dexterity.
5. Spatial-Visual Intelligence - People who are strong in visual-spatial intelligence are good at visualizing things. These individuals are often good with directions as well as maps, charts, videos, and pictures.
6. Interpersonal Intelligence - Those who have strong interpersonal intelligence are good at understanding and interacting with other people. These individuals are skilled at assessing the emotions, motivations, desires, and intentions of those around them.
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence - Individuals who are strong in intrapersonal intelligence are good at being aware of their own emotional states, feelings, and motivations. They tend to enjoy self-reflection and analysis, including daydreaming, exploring relationships with others, and assessing their personal strengths.
8. Naturalistic Intelligence - Naturalistic is the most recent addition to Gardner’s theory and has been met with more resistance than his original seven intelligences. According to Gardner, individuals who are high in this type of intelligence are more in tune with nature and are often interested in nurturing, exploring the environment, and learning about other species. These individuals are said to be highly aware of even subtle changes to their environments.
9. Existential Intelligence - Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die, and how did we get here.
Observation
Though this exercise is not a complete assessment I would venture that Kitty Whitty possess a Linguistic Intelligence based on her ability to expound on the topics of the relationship between God and Jesus (Video 2, :01 – 1:42, her conversation about what God does (Video 2, 2:38), explanation for the need to go to church twice a week (Video 2, 4:04-4:48), and lastly, the clarification of what happens at death and God’s role after we die (Video 2, 8:48 – 9:57). Kitty Whitty articulated well very difficult concepts based on her knowledge and ability to discuss them.
Secondly, I would say Kitty Whitty showed great signs of Visual and Spatial Intelligence due to her ability to articulate through her drawing to reemphasize our discussion (included in the file).
And lastly, I believe Kitty Whitty shows signs of a budding logical / mathematical intelligence for two reasons. In video three her explanation for including the telescope in the picture (video 3, 1:50) and her reasoning for including the heart in the picture (video 3, 3:00). Both the reasoning and the explanation point to her logical processing of how and why she thought to use the telescope and her expectations of God and how we should respond to him. Both responses appeared to be well thought out based on the information she possessed.
Artistic Interpretation
In addition to what I previously mentioned about Kitty Whitty’s drawings in Howard’s intelligences section. I would conclude that she is in the sixth phase of her development according to Howard Gardner in spite of her age. Kitty drew individual items that did not tell a story but presented isolated thoughts about God, her family and herself. There was not one cohesive story that phase 7 suggests that develops around the age of 5-7 according to The Course of the Child’s Artistic Development handout.
Gina,
I enjoyed listening to your interview. I loved listening to Kitty Witty wrestling with the relationship between God and Jesus—Who’s the boss that gets to tell the other what to do? I’m hearing a lot of egocentrism in her discussion of church in particular, where she is talking about her participation in choir. It is all from her perspective.
Your analysis was excellent with the theories you chose. You gave good summaries of each theories and supported the placements you made with evidence from the interview. I do think there was more to be gleaned from her drawing, but you would probably need to use Coles’ version of drawing interpretation to get there, as most of her choices seemed to be within the unconscious.
Final Child Interview and Analysis 95/100 (if on time)- 3 points for late submission = 92/100 or A-
Blessings,
Kathy Dawson
Her source of authority is a book. She believes its testimony based on its illustrations. This shows me once again the durability of images that young children see. I don’t think she has appropriated the expression “person of color” yet and just thinks of it in terms of the person being of a certain color.
Her description of death is very concrete with most of her expressions being things that she could see. I loved your question about how people get from the casket to be with God.
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